Making ‘halo-halo’ for Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay has something in common with a lot of Filipinos: He has a sweet tooth. He said during an interview with Lifestyle, “They love evaporated milk. I love evaporated milk. Evaporated milk was a joy at 5 years of age. Watching my mom cook rice pudding with evaporated milk was a dream.”
Clearly, the Filipino dessert halo-halo would be right up his alley. And on his visit to Manila earlier this week, four chefs tried to impress him with their version in an exciting culinary showdown.
The crowd cheered as the curtain lifted at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, revealing a cooking competition set-up that looked like it could be from one of Ramsay’s many television shows.
Behind each station stood a Filipino chef: Danica Lucero, a graduating student from Center for Culinary Arts Manila; Ryan Morales Reyes—Ninong Ry to his followers—a content creator known for his funny cooking videos; award-winning actress and restaurateur Judy Ann Santos; and Bea Therese Qua, head chef of Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill Philippines.
Ramsay greeted each chef warmly and made the crowd laugh when he told Qua, “You cannot lose this. If you lose this, we’re screwed.”
Each chef came with a secret ingredient for their halo-halo. Lucero had kamias compote, Reyes was using coco jam, Santos brought black sesame polvoron, while Qua had tibuok salt from Bohol.
“It’s incredible, it’s like a little mini World Cup, isn’t it?” Ramsay said, holding the artisanal salt that’s often referred to as a dinosaur egg because of its shape.
10 minutes
The chefs were given 10 minutes to make their dish and Ramsay hopped from station to station, checking on their progress as the excited crowd continued to cheer. As Lucero made sweetened jackfruit, she taught Ramsay how to say “minatamis na langka.”
Lucero’s final dish was a combination of nata de coco, sago, macapuno, leche flan, and kamias compote with a mixture of evaporated milk and coconut milk. Reyes presented the chef with a halo-halo meant to be sipped through a straw. “Sh*t, that is sweet,” Ramsay said.
Santos’ take had nata de coco, sweetened jackfruit, saba, leche flan, black sesame polvoron, coconut milk, and evaporated milk. Qua’s version featured mango ice cream, and salted caramel made with the tibuok and panocha.
“This is really tough, this is really tough,” Ramsay said after tasting them all. “There’s no lows, it’s all highs and I’m high as a kite now from all that sugar.”
In the end, Lucero, the youngest competitor, emerged triumphant, winning a chef’s jacket that had been signed by Ramsay. Later that day, we asked her: Will she wear the jacket? “No, I think I’m going to have it framed,” she said.
Lucero told Lifestyle that when she first heard she was going to make halo-halo for Ramsay, the idea sounded so ludicrous that she thought it was a prank. But when she realized that it was really going to happen, the nerves kicked in. She thought long and hard about her secret ingredient.
“I chose kamias because I wanted to show the Filipino flavor profile. Ingrained na sa atin ‘yung asim flavor, eh.”
And that’s a flavor Ramsay is familiar with, given his love for sinigang.
Lucero didn’t approach the experience as a competitor. “The fact that I could make halo-halo for Gordon Ramsay, that’s already a win. My mindset was just to enjoy.”
Santos also enjoyed making halo-halo for the superstar chef. “I never thought I’d get to experience preparing a dish for Gordon Ramsay,” she told Lifestyle, adding that it’s a dream for anyone in the food industry to be able to cook something for him. “It’s so surreal! My heart was pounding so fast when we were about to be introduced! Paulit-ulit kong kinakausap si Lord, ‘Please calm my heart, my mind, and my nerves.. and just let me finish my halo-halo on time!’”
Santos added, “Nakakaloka! I still can’t believe it. I’m so honored and so so happy and kilig to share one frame, one stage, one air with him. It’s the best 30 fast minutes of my life so far. I think I’ll be sleeping with a smile on my face for a looong time.”
